Readers

Like so many other authors, Karen Robards decided to follow the popular paranormal route in her latest novel, Last Victim. Charlotte "Charlie" Stone is a psychologist studying serial killers for the Department of Justice. She is definitely qualified for this profession because as a teenager she was the only survivor of a killer known as the Boardwalk Killer. Having witnessed her friend's family brutally murdered, Charlie has since dedicated her life to finding out what makes these killers do what they do.

Another great story by one of my favorite authors. As with her other books, reading Porch Lights made me long to visit the South Carolina Lowcountry, specifically Sullivan's Island, the setting for most of her books and where the author was born and raised. The way she describes the grasslands, amazing sunsets, and the gentle ocean breezes make it sound like paradise.

Silver Sparks by Starr Ambrose is a contemporary romance with lots of "sparks". The story begins with Maggie Larkin being groped by arrogant Hollywood playboy Rafael de Luca (Rafe) in a posh Alpine ski resort in Two Bears Mountain, Colorado. Little does he know that he picked the wrong fiery redhead to try and dazzle with his so-called irresistible charms. When grinding her three-inch heels into his toes doesn't work to fend off his unwanted attentions, Maggie is left no choice but to drive her palm up into his perfect, surgically enhanced, nose to get her point across.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is a must-read for those who enjoy stories with a plot that keeps you guessing until the very end. To be honest, when I read the first few paragraphs I did not think I was going to like it. Seriously. In the first few paragraphs a man is talking about the shape of his wife's head and how when he first saw it he thought she had a "finely shaped head". OK. Next, he describes how he could picture himself opening her skull, un-spooling her brain, and sifting through it.

Parodies are meant to poke fun at things and Fifty Shames of Earl Grey by Fanny Merkin (aka Andrew Shaffer) does just that. It doesn't just poke fun at the popular erotic series; it takes aspects of the first in the erotic series, Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James, and raises them to a whole different level - of absurd and outrageous – and outrageous is putting it mildly. I will admit it. I did read James's Fifty Shades of Grey. I wanted to find out what all the commotion was about, and I would have to say I am still not quite sure.

Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson is one of the strangest, funniest, and yet, saddest stories I have ever read. Growing up poor in rural Wall, Texas, and spending her whole life being pegged as "that weird girl", the author shares her life story in her own unique, rambling style. Once I started reading I just couldn't stop. Living surrounded by people who were just as poor, her childhood did not seem all that weird. Her parents never said they could not afford things, just that they did not need them.

This Bright River is a thought-provoking read combining the two qualities of having a Wisconsin connection and being a “book club” type book.

The story begins with a prologue of a man hitting another man on the head with the intent to kill him. The significance of this is gradually revealed piece by piece as the story spans the years from the 1990s to 2011.

If you like your romance with a paranormal/fantasy twist this is the book for you. Sweet little Annie Lou Riddle left Mississippi and headed to New York with high hopes of breaking into the fashion industry. Little did she know that to get her dream job at Hot! Magazine she would have to literally sell her soul to the devil. Now Annie is stuck working as assistant/personal slave to Finola White, the owner and chief editor, and an impulsive and arrogant demon.

Maybe it was all the hot, humid weather we had been experiencing, but as I was browsing the Lucky Day shelves the other day I took one look at the pretty green gingham patterned dress on the cover of the new novel by Joshilyn Jackson, A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty, and it just seemed like the perfect summer read. I love reading books about the south and this one takes you right into the heart of Mississippi and its unique culture. A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty is about 3 generations of women: Big (Ginny), Little (Liza), and Mosey Slocumb. Every 15 years they are cursed.